I opened my eyes slowly, revealing what was ahead was not something out of ordinary, not something that we expected.
Ha shit what... wait.
I looked around here and there and saw the same surprised face on Somi, Lucy, and Gery.
We weren't in the Cathedral's main hall.
We were in a white room. Completely white. Empty except for four pedestals in the center, each holding something that glowed with essence light.
And floating above them, in that same robotic voice that had announced our victory over the Eternal Stage:
[REWARDS UPDATED]
[TIER 5 COMPLETION BONUS: SPECIAL ARTIFACTS]
[1 × MASK OF HUNGER - TIER 4 ARTIFACT]
[1 × BLUE KATANA - TIER 4 ARTIFACT]
[1 × LIGHTNING WAND - TIER 4 ARTIFACT]
[1 × MAGIC SEEKER HALF MASK - TIER 4 ARTIFACT]
[CAUTION: ALL PREVIOUS ARTIFACTS WILL BE DESTROYED UPON ACCEPTANCE]
[NEW RULE UNLOCKED: TIER 4+ PLAYERS MAY EQUIP MULTIPLE ARTIFACTS]
[CURRENT STATUS: TIER 5 CLEARED - RESTRICTION REMOVED]
"Wait, what?" Lucy's voice came out small. Confused. "Multiple artifacts? We can have more than one now?"
Somi was already moving toward the pedestals, her red eyes scanning the floating text. "It says Tier 4 and above. We just cleared a Tier 5 Mirror World. The restriction is lifted for us."
"But our current artifacts..." Gery touched his chest where his Tier 6 sword would materialize. "They'll be destroyed?"
"All of them," I said, reading the text again. My fear dagger. The weapon that had kept me alive through so many fights. "We don't get a choice. Accept these new ones, or..."
"Or what?" Lucy asked.
Good question.
I approached the first pedestal. The one holding the mask.
It was beautiful in a terrible way. Made of what looked like polished bone, shaped to cover the upper half of a face. The surface was carved with intricate patterns—symbols I didn't recognize, geometric designs that seemed to shift when I wasn't looking directly at them.
The eye holes were hollow. Dark. Like staring into an abyss.
And I could feel it. Even without touching it.
Hunger.
Not physical hunger. Something deeper. A need. A craving. An emptiness that wanted to be filled.
[MASK OF HUNGER - TIER 5 ARTIFACT]
[ABILITY: DEVOUR - CONSUME ESSENCE FROM DEFEATED ENEMIES]
[ABILITY: ADAPTATION - ABSORB ENEMY ABILITIES TEMPORARILY]
[ABILITY: TRUTH-SIGHT - SEE THROUGH DECEPTION (PERMANENT)]
[PASSIVE: ESSENCE DETECTION - SENSE NEARBY ESSENCE SOURCES]
[WARNING: PROLONGED USE MAY CAUSE ESSENCE ADDICTION]
[WARNING: THE MASK HUNGERS. ALWAYS.]
"Sidd?" Somi was beside me, reading the same text. "That's... that's extremely powerful. And extremely dangerous."
"Yeah." I couldn't look away from it. "It's basically a better version of my Truth-Seer effect. But permanent. And it lets me steal abilities."
"At the cost of addiction," Gery added, reading over my shoulder. "It says it hungers. What does that mean?"
It means it will never be satisfied, a voice said in my head.
But not my truth-voice from the Truth-Seer mask.
This was different. Older. Hungrier.
It means you will always want more. More essence. More power. More everything. And if you don't feed me... I'll feed on you instead.
I jerked back from the pedestal.
"Fuck. It's already talking to me."
"You haven't even touched it yet," Lucy said, worried.
"Doesn't matter. It knows I'm here."
Lucy moved to the second pedestal. The one holding what looked like a wand, but different from her fire wand.
This one was longer. Sleeker. Made of some kind of crystal that crackled with internal lightning. Blue-white electricity arced between its length, never quite touching the pedestal but dancing inches above it.
[LIGHTNING WAND - TIER 4 ARTIFACT]
[ABILITY: THUNDERSTRIKE - RANGED LIGHTNING ATTACK]
[ABILITY: CHAIN LIGHTNING - ATTACK JUMPS BETWEEN TARGETS]
[ABILITY: STORM CALL - AREA OF EFFECT LIGHTNING]
[PASSIVE: STATIC FIELD - ENEMIES NEARBY ARE SLOWED]
[SYNERGY: PAIRS WITH HOPE ESSENCE FOR INCREASED POWER]
"It's an upgrade," Lucy whispered. "My fire wand is Tier 7. This is Tier 4. Much stronger."
"But you'd lose the fire abilities," I pointed out.
"I know." She touched the crystal gently. Lightning sparked against her fingertip. She didn't flinch. "But lightning is faster. More precise. And it has crowd control with the static field."
"The choice is yours," Somi said. "But decide quickly. I don't think we have unlimited time here."
Gery approached the third pedestal.
A katana. Traditional Japanese style, but the blade was wrong. Instead of steel, it looked like it was made of compressed water—or ice—or something in between. Blue. Translucent. Sharp enough that the air around it seemed to split.
[AZURE FANG - TIER 4 ARTIFACT]
[ABILITY: WATER BLADE - CUTS THROUGH PHYSICAL AND ESSENCE-BASED DEFENSES]
[ABILITY: FLOWING STANCE - ENHANCED SPEED AND AGILITY]
[ABILITY: TIDAL STRIKE - POWERFUL AREA SLASH]
[PASSIVE: ADAPTIVE EDGE - BLADE ADJUSTS TO ENEMY RESISTANCE]
[SPECIAL: LIGHTER THAN TIER 6 SWORD, FASTER ATTACKS]
Gery stared at it. Then looked at his hands where his Tier 6 sword would appear.
"I've been using that sword since the Barrens," he said quietly. "It's saved my life dozens of times."
"But this one is faster," Somi observed. "Your Tier 6 sword is powerful but slow. You're a tank. This would make you a duelist instead."
"Is that what I need to be?" Gery asked no one in particular.
No one answered.
Somi stood before the fourth pedestal. The last artifact.
A half-mask. Covering only the lower face—mouth, nose, jaw. Made of silver metal etched with runes that glowed faintly blue. It looked almost medical. Clinical.
[MAGIC SEEKER - TIER 4 ARTIFACT]
[ABILITY: ESSENCE ANALYSIS - IDENTIFY ENEMY WEAKNESSES]
[ABILITY: DISPEL - CANCEL MAGICAL EFFECTS]
[ABILITY: ESSENCE DRAIN - SLOWLY ABSORB ENEMY POWER]
[PASSIVE: TACTICAL VISION - SEE BATTLEFIELD INFORMATION]
[SPECIAL: ENHANCES WEARER'S STRATEGIC THINKING]
[WARNING: PROLONGED USE MAY DIMINISH EMOTIONAL RESPONSES]
"A strategist's artifact," Somi said, almost appreciatively. "Perfect for analysis and support."
"But it makes you less emotional," Lucy pointed out. "Is that what you want?"
Somi's expression didn't change. "I'm already not very emotional. This would just... enhance what I'm already good at."
"Or make you cold," I said. "Calculating. Unable to feel."
"Perhaps." Somi tilted her head. "But in a death game, is that such a bad thing?"
We stood in silence, each of us looking at our respective artifacts.
The voice returned:
[TIMER INITIATED: 5 MINUTES TO ACCEPT OR DECLINE]
[DECLINING WILL FORFEIT ALL REWARDS]
[CURRENT ARTIFACTS WILL BE DESTROYED REGARDLESS]
[CHOOSE NOW]
"Wait, what?!" Lucy spun toward the floating text. "Our artifacts are destroyed even if we say no?!"
[CORRECT. TIER 5 COMPLETION TRIGGERS MANDATORY UPGRADE]
[YOU CANNOT REMAIN AT LOWER TIER EQUIPMENT]
[THE GAME ESCALATES. YOU ESCALATE WITH IT.]
"That's bullshit!" I yelled at nothing. "You're forcing us to—"
[4 MINUTES 30 SECONDS REMAINING]
"It doesn't care," Somi said flatly. "The system never cares. Accept the artifacts or lose everything."
"But what if we don't want them?" Lucy's voice was shaking. "What if we don't want multiple artifacts? What if—"
"Then we die in whatever comes next," Gery interrupted. His hand was hovering over the katana. "The game is accelerating. We beat Tier 5. Now it's pushing us toward Tier 4. Toward harder challenges."
"Toward the endgame," I finished.
We looked at each other.
Four people who'd survived impossible odds together. Who'd fought puppets and masks and choirs and a cursed Queen.
And now we had to make a choice.
Evolve or die.
[3 MINUTES REMAINING]
"I'll take it," Somi said first. She reached out and touched the Magic Seeker mask.
The moment her fingers made contact, her crimson jacket—her Tier 7 artifact that had protected her through everything—began to dissolve. Not violently. Just... fading. Like it had never been real.
The half-mask flew to her face, attaching itself with a soft click. The silver metal molded to her skin, becoming part of her.
She gasped. Her red eyes widened. Then focused with laser precision.
"I can see..." she whispered. "I can see everything. Essence flows. Weak points. Tactical probabilities. It's like... like the entire battlefield is data I can analyze."
She looked at us. Through us.
"Lucy, your essence reserves are at 73%. Gery, your left leg injury from the Eternal Stage hasn't fully healed—stress fracture in the tibia. Sidd, your Truth-Seer effect has 23 hours before it fully dissipates."
"That's... creepy," Lucy said.
"That's useful," Somi corrected. Her voice had changed slightly. More clinical. Less warm. "I can coordinate our fights better now. Maximize efficiency."
The mask's warning about diminished emotions was already showing.
[2 MINUTES REMAINING]
"Fuck it," I said, reaching for the Mask of Hunger. "I'm not going into the next zone with nothing."
The moment I touched it, my fear dagger shattered. I felt it break—not physically, since it was essence-based—but the connection severed. The artifact I'd created in that first Mirror World, that had saved my life so many times, was gone.
The Mask of Hunger slammed onto my face.
Pain.
Not physical. Mental. Spiritual.
The mask wasn't just an artifact. It was alive. Conscious. And it was hungry.
I could feel it immediately. An emptiness in my core. A void that needed to be filled. It craved essence like a starving man craves food.
Feed me, it whispered. Kill. Consume. Grow stronger. Never stop. Never rest. Always hunger. Always more.
But along with the hunger came power.
My vision sharpened. I could see essence now—not just with Truth-Seer clarity, but actually see it. Like glowing threads connecting everything. Lucy's essence was orange-red. Gery's was steel-grey. Somi's was deep crimson.
And I could sense more. Beyond this white room. Something massive. Moving. Full of essence.
Hungry essence.
"Sidd?" Lucy's voice seemed far away. "Are you okay? Your eyes—"
"They're different, aren't they?" I said. My voice sounded strange to my own ears.
"They're black," Gery said quietly. "Completely black. Like the eye holes in the mask."
I touched my face. The mask covered the upper half, but I could still feel my eyes beneath it. They'd changed.
We are one now, the mask said. You wear me. I wear you. Together we hunger. Together we feast.
[1 MINUTE REMAINING]
Lucy grabbed the Lightning Wand.
Her fire wand vanished in a puff of ash and ember. She looked sad for a moment—saying goodbye to the artifact that had defined her fighting style.
Then the Lightning Wand activated.
Electricity coursed through her body. Her hair stood on end. Blue-white light crackled between her fingers.
"Oh," she breathed. "Oh wow. This is... this is so much stronger."
She pointed at a wall. A bolt of lightning lanced out, striking the white surface. The crack of thunder was deafening in the enclosed space.
"Sorry!" She looked sheepish. "Still getting used to it."
But I could see the change in her expression. The fear was still there. But now there was excitement too. Power. The kind of power that could turn the tide of battles.
[30 SECONDS REMAINING]
Gery was the last. His hand hovered over the Azure Fang katana.
"My sword..." he started.
"I know," I said. "But the system doesn't give us a choice."
"It's not fair."
"Nothing about this is fair."
He closed his eyes. Then grabbed the katana.
His Tier 6 sword—the massive, powerful blade that had carried him through the Crimson Barrens and the Eternal Stage—crumbled to dust.
The Azure Fang sang as it left the pedestal. A high, clear note like a bell made of ice.
Gery opened his eyes. Held the katana in one hand. It was so much lighter than his old sword that he actually stumbled slightly.
"It's... different," he said, testing a swing. "Faster. But less impact."
"Speed over power," Somi analyzed. "Your fighting style will need to adapt."
[ACCEPTANCE COMPLETE]
[NEW ARTIFACTS EQUIPPED]
[MULTIPLE ARTIFACT RESTRICTION: REMOVED]
[TIER 4+ STATUS: CONFIRMED]
[PREPARING TRANSPORT TO SANCTUS MORTIS...]
"Wait," Lucy said. "We're going back now? Just like that?"
[TRANSPORT IN: 10 SECONDS]
"Hold on," I said, looking at my new mask in a reflection on one of the pedestals. The bone-white surface. The empty eye holes. "What happens when we—"
[5 SECONDS]
"Together," Somi said. It was what we always said before major transitions.
"Together," we repeated.
The white room began to fade.
But just before it disappeared completely, I felt something.
The Mask of Hunger reacted. Violently.
It sensed something. Something massive. Something close.
Danger, it hissed. Corruption. Feeding. Something is feeding on the safe zone.
"Guys—" I started.
Too late.
Reality shifted.
We appeared in the Cathedral's main hall.
And immediately, I knew something was catastrophically wrong.
The red carpet beneath our feet was damp. Sticky.
The air smelled like copper and rot.
And the walls—
Oh god, the walls.
They were bleeding.
Black ichor. Seeping from cracks that spiderwebbed across every surface. Growing. Spreading.
"What the—" Gery started.
A scream cut him off.
From deeper in the Cathedral. Then another. Then dozens.
Panic. Terror. Death.
The Cathedral is being consumed, the Mask of Hunger told me. Something is eating it. Pulling it into another space. Another world.
"EVERYONE!" Somi's voice cut through the chaos, amplified somehow by her new mask. "DEFENSIVE POSITIONS! PREPARE FOR—"
The floor lurched.
Gravity shifted.
And from the bleeding walls, arms began to emerge.
Pale. Corpse-white. Hundreds of them.
Reaching.
Grasping.
Hungry.
Behind the arms, I heard singing.
A lullaby. Soft and sweet and completely wrong.
My new mask showed me the truth that my eyes couldn't see.
Deep beneath the Cathedral. Beneath Sanctus Mortis itself. Something massive was rising.
Something that had been waiting.
Something that had finally found enough prey to justify waking up.
The Mother of Limbs, the mask whispered. Tier 4 Ghost Rebound. And she's dragging all of you into her domain.
Into the Flesh Cradle.
Where she can protect her children.
Forever.
The arms multiplied. The singing grew louder. The corruption spread faster.
And I realized with horrible, crystal clarity what our new artifacts were really for.
Not for celebrating our victory over Tier 5.
For surviving what came next.
"RUN!" I screamed.
But there was nowhere to run.
The Cathedral was already Falling.